紅氣球 - The Flight of the Red Balloon

紅氣球 (The Flight of the Red Balloon) is a 2007 film out of France. The film is directed by famed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

The movie follows the life of a Chinese exchange student in France, played by Fang Song as Song. Song is the care taker for Simon and his mother Suzanne. The story followers a slice of Suzanne, Simon, and Sang's life. You go from school pick up, to pinball machine, to piano lessons. Suzanne has problems with her current partner and father of Simon, Pierre. The tenant downstairs hasn't payed rent in over a year. Suzanne's life is a roller coaster of emotions and interactions. Song and Simon however, have a calm and even demeanor through it all.

The movie is very slow and you may have 40% of the film following a red balloon. Some of it is like the bag a la American Beauty. It was a very hard watch since I wasn't prepared to watch a artsy fartsy film. It's also in French and I had to read subtitles. Which making doing other things while the film is on very hard.

Critics loved it, I didn't and Netflix raters didn't either.

最好的時光 - Three Times

Three Times (最好的時光) by director Hou Hsiao-Hsien is an art film at its core. The 3 episode movie stars 舒淇 and 張震 (Hsu Chi and Chen Chang).

The movie is divided into 3 episodes. Each episode is a different period in time. One in the present 2005, one in the Qing Dynasty, 1911, and one in 1966. Each time period portrays a relationship between 舒淇 and 張震. All 3 get to it in different ways.

It was an interesting look at 1911 during the end of the imperial age. The 1966 storyline was a look into the innocence of love. The 2005 story was the modern take on love as its lost its innocence and is part of the globalized community.